DOM PÉRIGNON

Disgorged mid-2021; 4.5g/L dosage including some dosage liqueur from oak vats up to 10 years of age.

The 2013 winemaking year proved a welcome reconnection with the glorious past of late harvest vintages. 2013 is a very interesting vintage, completely unique in the past decades, the only harvest picked in October, which is becoming a rare exception! We have to go right back to 2004 or 1995 to find another late vintage, and 2013 was even later than 2004. I see three sequences in the growing period that explain the personality of 2013. The first is a very cold and humid winter and spring, hence good moisture in the soil, which delayed the cycle for two weeks, and we never make this back, so it delays the harvest by two weeks. Second, a very warm and dry summer, to the point where the vines suffered the most from heat stress over summer in the past 20 years. The canopy was drooping and pale. I think this stress had an impact on the quality of the grapes while moderating the huge yields that we were expecting. The vine developed different metabolism as the stress was quite intense, so it developed more complexity, concentration and density in the grapes.

'The third stage was the maturation and picking – two sequences: a lot of rain at the beginning of September, and this created a lot of variability in the vineyards. Two effects of quality depending on the terroir, first dilution and in some regions botrytis in terroir that was not able to absorb the water, particularly on clay. The grand terroirs were really privileged in this year, and the distance between grand and premier crus and other terroirs was huge. And the last stage was the picking, starting 28 September, and it was fantastic. It's normally cool and often rainy by this time, but in 2013 it was very sunny and warm. Tasting the fruit revealed a promising balance between acidic and full-bodied. The first impressions of the 2013 now are that it is very elegant, not an intellectual or challenging wine but very sophisticated and precise. After the tropical and phenolic 2010 and the explosive and energetic 2012, 2013 after that seems to have a sensation of being very peaceful and yet with strength and power.' - Vincent Chaperon

At eleven years of age, there is a deep secondary complexity to this vintage, leading with biscuity, brioche, roast almond nougat and vanilla custard. Its fruit spectrum reflects the depth of baked apple and ripe pear more than it does citrus and stone fruits, by contrast with the tension expected in this cool, late harvest. The signature notes of green coffee bean and hazelnut inherent to Dom Pérignon are more prominent here than in the cooler seasons of the past. The structure carries the creamy texture of lees age and the bite and grip of phenolic texture inherent to Dom Perignon, contrasting with the energy of 2013 acidity. It holds impressive concentration and persistence. A vintage ready to drink now, and while it will not be long-lived by Dom Pérignon standards, it holds the stamina to mature confidently, thanks as much to phenolic hold as to acid drive.

Tasted in 2024 Rating: 96 Tyson Stelzer - The Champagne Guide (Jul 2024)